1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wire grid polarizer having a microstructural concavo-convex grid.
2. Related Background Art
The recent development of photolithography technique has enabled formation of a microstructural pattern with pitches of the level of the wavelength of light. Members and products with such extremely small pitches are of wide application and useful not only in the semiconductor field but also in the optical field.
For example, in a wire grid where conductor lines such as metal and the like are arranged in the shape of a grid with specific pitches on a substrate, when the pitches are remarkably smaller than (for example, less than half) the incident light (for example, visible light with wavelengths of 400 nm to 800 nm), the wire grid reflects almost all the electric field vector component vibrating in parallel with the conductor lines, while allowing almost all the electric field vector component perpendicular to the conductor lines to pass through the grid, and is capable of being used as a wire grid polarizer to generate a polarized light beam. Such a wire grid polarizer reflects the light which is not passed through to be reused, and is desirable from the viewpoint of effective use of the light. However, in the existing photolithography technique, it has been difficult to manufacture a wire grid with pitches of 120 nm or less.